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Friday, 25 September 2015

But what may be surprising is that almost half of Americans clearly identified government as a clear and “immediate” threat, and are obviously outraged about what is going on.

Oddly, the number of angry Americans has remained consistent in poll number ever since about 2006 during George W. Bush’s second term, maintaining around 46-49% throughout Barack Obama’s entire presidency.

And yet, things continue to get worse and worse with each political cycle, and each new president.

Almost half of Americans, 49%, say the federal government poses “an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens,” similar to what was found in previous surveys conducted over the last five years.

The remarkable finding about these attitudes is how much they reflect apparent antipathy toward the party controlling the White House, rather than being a purely fundamental or fixed philosophical attitude about government.

[…] during the Republican administration of George W. Bush, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were consistently more likely than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents to say the federal government posed an immediate threat.

[…] during the Democratic Obama administration, the partisan gap flipped, with Republicans significantly more likely to agree.

[…]

Still, the persistent finding in recent years that half of the population views the government as an immediate threat underscores the degree to which the role and power of government remains a key issue of our time… numerous other measures show that the people give their government some of the lowest approval and trust ratings in the measures’ history.

So why does the situation between the people and government continue to deteriorate?

The complaints about government’s abuse of powers reaches across the isle, and straddles both parties in the White House, yet people tend to direct their anger only at the current president – thus falling for the ruse of blaming the puppet, and not the system.

As Americans shift blame about the state of affairs back-and-forth with every election, most miss the point about why these things are happening – someone is writing reports and creating policies that allow these things to happen. All the Congress and President do is approve them, and deflect attention towards who is running the show.

What are Americans upset about, according to polls?:

Overall, Americans who agree that the government is an immediate threat tend to respond with very general complaints echoing the theme that the federal government is too big and too powerful, and that it has too many laws. They also cite nonspecific allegations that the government violates freedoms and civil liberties, and that there is too much government in people’s private lives.

[also…]

perceptions that the government is “socialist,” that the government spends too much, that it picks winners and losers such as the wealthy or racial and ethnic minorities, that it is too involved in things it shouldn’t be and that it violates the separation of powers.

[as well as…]

freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the overuse of police and law enforcement, government surveillance of private citizens including emails and phone records, government involvement in gay marriage issues, overregulation of business, overtaxing, the healthcare law and immigration.

The vast majority of these issues happen under the mis-leadership of both parties, progressing without fail through the years.

It is time that Americans embrace their anger at government, and focus their attention past the politicians to the real problem.